Tales of a Novice Cyclist

It’s been REALLY cold lately in the mornings.  So I got myself  a balaclava. Or, as RL would say, a baklava.  Isn’t that something you eat? 

I look like I’m about to rob someone when I have it on, so I’ve been reluctant to wear it.  I will wear the “baklava” though next time I ride outside.  The weather hasn’t been cooperative… Hopefully, weekend will be good.

First spinning class tonight with RL at 24hr Fitness. I just got an offer for $29/month + $29 enrollment for all-club membership, so if I like the 24hr, I will join on a month-to-month basis.

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I chickened out this morning. NO WAY that I could do 5000 ft of climbing in one day in my current shape.  Rock Store AND Yerba Buena? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!@#!@!!  So I went to ride with Agoura.  It was SOOO cccccold this morning that I couldn’t feel my face.  My hands were nice and toasty in my Pearl Izumi Cyclone gloves, but my face was numb.  D’OH!!  (I went to REI right after the ride to get a balaclava for my face. Maybe if it’s cold enough, I will wear it tomorrow.

It was a great ride.  Started off at Kanan and TO, rode to Amgen, to Ventu Park, then made a bunch of turns (I have no idea where I was, just followed the leader), climbed up Wendy, up Potrero, through Hidden Valley, then back to start.  Short ride - only 33 miles, but we did about 1500 ft of climbing which was okay for today. I will do some more climbing tomorrow…  As usual, I was the last one in the group - typical.  :-\ Sigh… I rode with Linda (British woman who does triathlons), Turi (her Italian boyfriend?), and Joel.  Turi gave us all Italian Language lessons…. Actually, he just taught us how to swear in Italian.  Hah!  Linda’s phrase was “Porco Cane!” - “pig dog!”  and my phrase was “Madonna Santa!” - “Holy Mary!”  We all yelled the phrases as we climbed up the hill while Turi cracked up, yelling the same phrases with some “Ciao Bella!”s in between.  VERY FUNNY…  I should have taken a picture.  I need to start carrying a camera so that I can start posting images of these rides…!

I’m tempted to try Piuma and Stunt Rd tomorrow.  If I chicken out, I’ll be riding Sepulveda to Santa Monica Pier… good 50 miles. Nice and easy.

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I think the BBKings are trying to kill me. Saturday’s morning ride in another 50 miles which is fine, but they will be riding to Rock Store (4 miles uphill) - Mulholland - down Encinal - PCH - up Yerba Buena (another 7 miles uphill…) then back down Westlake. ERrrr…5000 ft of climbing? !@#!@$!#@!@! Going up Mulholland from PCH side alone was only 3000 ft of climbing, 7 miles of LOOONG uphill, and I was completely BONKED afterward. And now, 5000 ft of climbing? I’m not sure if I can make it.. I may just faint. Maybe, I’ll get a head start at 7:30am and see if I can even finish in under 5 hours. Or, I may just chicken out and ride an easy 50 with Agoura Cycles… Oy…

On the bright side, it looks like it will be a clear day on Saturday. Only it’s going to be c-c-c-c-cooold again at 45 degrees in the morning. I need to get a facemask so that my face don’t freeze off…

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Yesterday, I was so “Erked” at work that I went went for a bike ride during the middle of the day. I rode to Hidden Valley and back as fast as I could. Under 1 hour… , my heart rate monitor said that I burned 500 calories. I think it must have been the fastest that I’ve ever ridden to Hidden Valley and back. The 12/27 cassette probably helped. I wish I could have ridden longer. But riding even for that 1 hour made me feel better.  Sigh… I wish I could do that everyday… RL, I envy you for being able to work from HOME!!!

J told me that since I’m in Chatsworth, I could probably climb Santa Susanna Pass up by Topanga. I’ll bring my bike to work next week and see if I can climb it during the lunch hour. Hope the wind dies down by then…

It’s HOWLING Santa Anas right now. Someone told me today that it’s going to rain on Saturday. WTF! I gotta ride…. I NEED to ride… GRRRR….. Tour de Palm Springs is only 3 weeks away! I’m supposed to ride with Deanne to Santa Monica Pier on Sunday. Hopefully, the weather cooperates.

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Well, I got on my bike today, but can’t actually say that I rode.  The Warm Santa Anas were blowing today.  Got a late start, so decided to ride to Westlake, hoping that Westlake wouldn’t be windy like last time.  But when I started riding down my street, the wind was too strong, so I decided to drive to Westlake instead of riding there - just to be safe.  Grrr…. Warm but too windy! My bike was swaying back and forth.  It really sucks to ride against the wind.  Very frustrating… So, I did one lap around the lake, then headed back. O… took only about 20 minutes, burned about 100 calories, then I was back.  Can’t really say that it was a ride… :-\  Yesterday’s Simi ride was MUCH much better.

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I haven’t ridden for 2 weeks! First day back and I rode with the BBKings this morning.  I was once again the last one in the group. But unlike the other group, this group waited for me! A couple of the guys even pushed me up the hill! Too nice… I gotta get in shape so that I wouldn’t need them to push me up the hill… Maybe I should join RL’s gym.. or the 24 hr Fitness across the street…  J said that I should ride at least 3x/week to get faster. :-\

We rode through Simi Valley - SUCH A BEAUTIFUL RIDE!  There were some hills but I was able to make it.  I swapped out the rear cassette to 12/27 from 12/25.  The mechanic told me that I would need a new rear derailer if I switched to a compact crank set, so I left the crank set as is.  But Dino told me today during the ride that I don’t need to switch it! GRRR…. I think the rear cassette helped.  But I may still want to switch to a 50/34 crank set.  I will do Mulholland again tomorrow to see if I’ll be able to climb the same hill quicker, spin up faster rather than pushing my knees through it.

We started at Commons in Calabassas, and rode to Kanan-Avenida De Los Arboles-Olsen-then I don’t remember any of the turns after that.  We somehow got to Simi, rode on Los Angeles Avenue, up the hill past Box Canyon (man, that looked steep! no, we didn’t ride it), then down Plummer Street (at which point I wondered whether I could actually ride my bike to work on Plummer) to Valley Circle then back to Commons.  I even saw a woodpecker for the first time at the top of the hill before the Box Canyon turn-off! Red head. Cute little bugger. hahaha!  My left calf cramped up at one point in the ride, then the right calf, then my quad when I tried to stand up and pedal.  Everyone said that I SHOULD HAVE EATEN BREAKFAST… yes yes…. I learned my lesson again today. I felt better during the 2nd half of the ride after I ate some food, so the breakfast advice, although obvious, hit home especially today. Egh…

Beautiful ride, but we must have made about 50 turns during the ride. :-\  I won’t be able to find the route again even if I wanted to…

Must get better…

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Saturday was my first ride with the BBKings. Westlake-Potrero-into Camarillo-Las Posas-PCH-Mulholland-back down Westlake to start. 48 miles. Seemed easy enough. 48 miles, how hard can it be? Well, 4 hours and 15 minutes, 2 water bottles, and 4 gu packets later, I was back at home.  Exhausted, hungry, sticky, and stinky.  My left knee (the one that’s always given me problems) started aching after the Mulholland climb. DOH! The knee hasn’t ached for months! I guess the Mulholland 7 mile hole did the knee in. They did mention in the email that the ride was an “easy” one.  ERrrr…. Man, I need to get better! The ride started out good, but went downhill in the last 10 miles.

I met everyone at the start point and started the ride. For once, I wasn’t the last one in the group! I started to toward the front and gradually fell back to the middle group. Unbelievable. I was expecting to be the last one. It was all fine until we hit Mulholland. I was in the middle of the bunch until we started climbing Mulholland. Either I should have kept on going without a break, so I am really out of shape. Bruce, the “mother hen” of the group suggested that I take it slow, steady, nice and easy up the 7 mile climb. SEVEN MILES~! At some parts, my cyclocomputer read 3.5 mph as my speed, pushing my knees on my easiest gear.. . I’m surprised that I didn’t fall over sideways. Anyways, it took me ONE FULL HOUR to reach Little Sycamore. By the top of the hill, my legs started to cramp up. So rested a bit and took it easy for the rest of the downhill route back. Dino, one of the “mother hens”, I guess, was nice enough to stay alongside me to make sure that I made it. He saw me pushing my gears and suggested that I get a 12/27 cassette in the back instead of the 12/25 standard cassette that the bike came with - which would make my climbing easier. If that wasn’t enough, he suggested that I replace my crank set with a compact crank set which would be a 50/34 from the standard 53/39 that I have. I’ve made an appointment to replace the cassette for now. Hopefully, I can climb quicker?? We’ll see…

Anyways, I’ve been icing the knee 3 times a day and have been stretching the crud out of the TFL, hamstrings, and calves which seems to be helping. The knee felt good enough to go for a light spin around the lake with RL today. Hopefully, it will be in good shape by next Saturday’s ride. Woohoo~!

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